ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint comparison

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Fortinet Logo
10,056 views|7,518 comparisons
82% willing to recommend
ESET Logo
12,492 views|10,400 comparisons
90% willing to recommend
Microsoft Logo
60,745 views|47,911 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on May 15, 2022

We performed a comparison between ESET Endpoint Security and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: All the ESET Endpoint Security reviewers agree that the initial setup is straightforward and easy. Most Defender for Endpoint users say that its initial setup is straightforward.

  • Features: Users of both products are for the most part very satisfied with their scalability and stability. ESET Endpoint Security reviewers like its user-friendly interface and strong security capabilities but mention that the update process isn’t always automatic. Defender for Endpoint reviewers say it is a solid security system but would like more integration options.

  • Pricing: All ESET Endpoint Security users agree that it is a low-cost solution, whereas most Defender for Endpoint users feel it is an expensive product. Defender for Endpoint does offer a free version.

  • ROI: Users of both solutions report seeing an ROI.

  • Service and Support: All ESET Endpoint Security users and most Defender for Endpoint users are satisfied with the level of support they receive.

Comparison Results: ESET Endpoint Security ultimately won out in this comparison. Our reviewers agree that ESET Endpoint Security is easy to install and easy to use. In addition, it has excellent customer support.

To learn more, read our detailed ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The main thing is that I feel safe. Because the processes that have been used to get a handle on the attackers are much better than other competitors""It is a scalable solution...The initial setup of Fortinet FortiEDR was straightforward.""Fortinet FortiEDR's firewalling, rule creation, monitoring, and inspection profiles are great.""Fortinet FortiEDR's scalability is quite good, and you can add licenses to the solution.""The features that I have found most valuable are the ability to customize it and to reduce its size. It lets you run in a very small window in terms of memory and resources on legacy cash registers.""It notifies us if there's any suspicious file on any PC. If any execution or similar kind of thing is happening, it just alerts us. It doesn't only alert. It also blocks the execution until we allow it. We check whether the execution is legitimate or not, and then approve it or keep it blocked. This gives us a little bit of control over this mechanism. Fortinet FortiEDR is also very straightforward and easy to maintain.""The solution was relatively easy to deploy.""The ease of deployment and configuration is valuable. It's very easy compared to other vendors like Sophos. Sophos' configuration is complex. Fortinet is a lot easier to understand. You don't need a lot of admin knowledge to do the configuration."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Pros →

"Installing and integrating ESET Endpoint Antivirus was easy. It prevents worms, malware, and Trojans.""ESET provides good protection.""I feel the solution to be beneficial in respect of features that I cannot find with SSTM's.""The pricing is reasonable.""The most valuable features of this solution are, of course, the IPS/IDS, Intrusion Prevention, Intrusion Detection, and Antivirus.""What is great about ESET is the ERA Web Console through which we can pull various reports, monitor and administer all clients and servers, and the console is easy to use.""We use ESET, which is pretty much perfect for us. It is also absolutely simple and automatic once setup.""We have not picked up a bug yet, because we use ESET, which is a tried and proven system."

More ESET Endpoint Protection Platform Pros →

"File protection is the most valuable feature. Antivirus security on the Level OS, Microsoft Defender, and Microsoft Guard for 2019.""We had certain compliance and usage issues. For example, our company wanted to go with CIS, but we didn't have a proper way of measuring whether the endpoints have the right standards in place or whether they were compliant with CIS. Microsoft Defender was like a one-stop for most things because it gave us the vulnerability and patching scores so that our vulnerability management teams can focus on covering up the vulnerabilities and the patching team can check the vulnerable versions and deploy the right versions.""There are a couple of features, such as isolating the devices or connecting the device and connecting live response.""It's a very complete application. I have all the controls in one site. I can track emails, attacks, and threats, and I can research information. I really like this configuration because I have all the information in place.""It's great for investigating what's happening on a machine. They show a whole bunch of machine timeline events that are related to a security incident. They have quite good details on the things related to threat and vulnerability management, such as any weakness that has been disclosed publicly, assets that are exposed, and if there is an exploit active in the wild for that vulnerability. It can provide you with all such information, which is cool.""One feature I like the most is vulnerability management, which shows any vulnerable software or OS present in my environment. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides a complete overview and also recommends the steps to mitigate the vulnerabilities or threats. Most of the other antivirus or EDR solutions generally don't provide vulnerability management. It is an add-on that Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides.""We found that because the endpoint devices are based on Microsoft Windows devices and Windows Defender is integrated with the foundation and the core layer, it makes it more integrated and more agile in terms of responding to any security threats or changes or development""We have liked the fact that it comes with Microsoft Windows 10 and it is constantly updated with all new virus definitions. It is also updated with new security features on a regular basis."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pros →

Cons
"Integration with Azure and SaaS provisioning tools could improve Fortinet FortiEDR.""The solution's installation from a central installation server could be improved because the engineers had a little bit of trouble getting it installed from a central location.""They can include the automation for the realtime updates. We have a network infrastructure with remote sites. Whenever they send updates, they are not automated. We have to go into the console and push those updates. I wish it was more automated. The update file is currently around 31 MB. It could be smaller.""The EDR console should have more extensive reporting. You shouldn't need to purchase FortiAnalyzer. It should be included in the EDR part. The security adviser cloud platform could be improved with more options for exclusive or intensive rules for devices.""It takes about two business days for initial support, which is too slow in urgent situations.""Everything with Fortinet having to do with their cloud services. They need to invest more in their internal infrastructure that they are running in the cloud. One of the things I find with their cloud environment compared to others' is that they go cheap on the equipment. So it causes some performance degradation.""The support needs improvement.""The solution is not stable."

More Fortinet FortiEDR Cons →

"When users renew licenses, they should offer a discount.""ESET Endpoint Security could improve EDR integration.""ESET Endpoint Antivirus can improve by having better EDR intelligence and automation. The EDR still needs lots of human interpretation. It can be better if add more intelligence to the EDR part of the endpoint protection.""I am a MAC user and my asset cybersecurity is continuously displaying warnings that I am not using their firewall.""They should have better support for different languages and auto-upgrading.""The tool needs to explore security possibilities to secure iOS and Mac devices.""Sometimes, ESET sends alerts within my own network that cause confusion. That is, it might warn about contamination, or that the VM has crashed, but it doesn't go further than that. It just shows me the alert and sometimes I am not sure what to do about it.""It would be useful if they could automate the deployment more."

More ESET Endpoint Protection Platform Cons →

"The automation could be simpler on the mitigation side. It has a learning curve. Otherwise, it's pretty easy.""In active mode, it's great that it gives you so much information, but it does record every keystroke so you have a lot of logs... that amount of data logging started to add up in the cost.""It is using a large space in your memory all the time. While an antivirus will use some of your memory, if they could reduce the load of the antivirus to some extent that would be good.""I think Microsoft needs to improve some of the security aspects of Defender. The email part, in particular, needs to be improved in terms of security effectiveness.""The product should reduce updates since it is hard to keep up.""There's a lot of manual effort involved to configure what we need.""The scalability could be improved - I would rate it between a seven and an eight.""It is not very scalable from the eyes of an MSP because there is no dashboard that you can use to see all of your devices that have Windows Defender unless you have your own dashboard or an RMM tool to actually look at it. So, you might not get to know that a particular computer of a client is doing something, and it might have got a virus. That person might know that, but unless you set it up to actually send you the information, you won't get to know that. That's one of the things that is hard with Microsoft Defender. It is not made for the MSP world where you have one pane of glass to see all of your clients with Microsoft Defender on it unless your RMM tool already has that built-in and it can see the telemetry from Microsoft Defender."

More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "I know it is tough to get big budget additions up front, but I highly recommend deploying environment wide and adding the forensic service."
  • "There are no issues with the pricing."
  • "The price is comprable to other endpoint security solutions."
  • "The pricing is typical for enterprises and fairly priced."
  • "I'm not familiar with pricing, but it looks a bit costly compared to other vendors I think."
  • "The pricing is good."
  • "I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
  • "The hardware costs about €100,000 and about €20,000 annually for access."
  • More Fortinet FortiEDR Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Pricing per month, for security services as apps in CEE pricing: up to €2 monthly is OK."
  • "ESET is perfect, if you can afford it."
  • "The cost is a very reasonable. When compared with other products, the price is low (though not very low)."
  • "At first, we thought it was a bit expensive, but we negotiated a better price."
  • "This solution is a good value for the money."
  • "Currently, we are running on a three-year license. The pricing might be around $20,000. There aren't any costs above the standard licensing fee."
  • "This is not an expensive product."
  • "It is subjective. I don't think it is expensive. If you can have 10 user licenses for less than $100, I don't think it is expensive."
  • More ESET Endpoint Protection Platform Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The product is free of charge and comes integrated into Windows."
  • "The solution is free."
  • "This product is included in the pricing for Windows."
  • "If you don't purchase the advanced threat protection then there is no additional charge."
  • "It is affordable and comes in the Office 365 bundle."
  • "Microsoft Defender ATP is expensive."
  • "I pay for it through the Windows Professional or Standard license. It is a one-time cost for me, and I use the same license."
  • "When compared with other vendors, the pricing is very high."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:I suggest Fortinet’s FortiEDR over FortiClient for several reasons. For starters, FortiEDR guarantees solid protection… more »
    Top Answer: Having all monitoring, response, tracking, and mitigation tools in one dashboard provides our analysts and SOC team… more »
    Top Answer:The pricing is significantly high. The implementation of this solution required us to allocate additional funds beyond… more »
    Top Answer:ESET Endpoint Security’s most valuable feature is the management console.
    Top Answer:I rate the product’s pricing a three out of ten. It is neither cheap nor expensive for our clients. We use the free… more »
    Top Answer:The product’s AI implementation feature could be better for learning user behavior. There could be a feature to detect… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-delivered endpoint security solution. The tool reduces the attack surface… more »
    Top Answer:We use Symantec because we do not use MS Enterprise products, but in my opinion, Microsoft Defender is a superior… more »
    Top Answer:The CrowdStrike solution delivers a lot of information about incidents. It has a very light sensor that will never push… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    enSilo, FortiEDR
    Smart Security, ESET PROTECT Advanced, ESET LiveGuard Advanced, ESET PROTECT Platform
    Microsoft Defender ATP, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, MS Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender Antivirus
    Learn More
    Interactive Demo
    Fortinet
    Demo Not Available
    ESET
    Demo Not Available
    Overview

    Fortinet FortiEDR is a real-time endpoint protection, detection, and automated response solution. Its primary purpose is to detect advanced threats to stop breaches and ransomware damage. It is designed to do so in real time, even on an already compromised device, allowing you to respond and remediate incidents automatically so your data can remain protected.

    Fortinet FortiEDR Features

    Fortinet FortiEDR has many valuable key features, including:

    • Easily customizable
    • Real-time proactive risk mitigation & IoT security
    • Pre-infection protection
    • Post-infection protection
    • Track applications and ratings
    • Reduce the attack surface with risk-based proactive policies
    • Achieve analysis of entire log history
    • Optional managed detection and response (MDR) service

    Fortinet FortiEDR Benefits

    Some of the key benefits of using Fortinet FortiEDR include:

    • Protection: Fortinet FortiEDR provides proactive, real-time, automated endpoint protection with the orchestrated incident response across platforms. It stops the breach with real-time postinfection blocking to protect data from exfiltration and ransomware encryption.

    • Single unified console: Fortinet FortiEDR has a single unified console with an intuitive interface, which makes management easier. The solution automates mundane endpoint security tasks so your employees don’t need to do it.

    • Cost savings: With Fortinet FortiEDR you can eliminate post-breach operational expenses and breach damage costs.

    • Flexibility: Fortinet FortiEDR can be deployed on premises or on a secure cloud instance. With Fortinet FortiEDR, endpoints are protected both on- and off-line.

    • Scalability: Because Fortinet can be deployed quickly and has a small footprint, it is easy to scale up to protect hundreds of thousand endpoints.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Fortinet FortiEDR users.

    An Owner at a security firm says, "The features that I have found most valuable are the ability to customize it and to reduce its size. It lets you run in a very small window in terms of memory and resources on legacy cash registers. The customer has literally about 800 cash registers. That was the use case for Fortinet FortiEDR - to get that down into a tiny space. The only way to do that was to use this product because it had that ability to unbundle services that were a surplus.”

    Chandan M., Chief Technical Officer at Provision Technologies LLP, mentions, “The ease of deployment and configuration is valuable. It's very easy compared to other vendors like Sophos. Sophos' configuration is complex. Fortinet is a lot easier to understand. You don't need a lot of admin knowledge to do the configuration.” He also adds, “The security is also very good and the firewall response is good.”

    Harpreet S., Information Technology Support Specialist at Chemtrade Logistics, explains, "It notifies us if there's any suspicious file on any PC. If any execution or similar kind of thing is happening, it just alerts us. It doesn't only alert. It also blocks the execution until we allow it. We check whether the execution is legitimate or not, and then approve it or keep it blocked. This gives us a little bit of control over this mechanism. Fortinet FortiEDR is also very straightforward and easy to maintain."

    DeAndre V., Senior Network Administrator at a financial services firm, states, “The dashboard is easy to follow and use. The deployment and uninstalling were easy. I like the detailed information about the path of a file that might be suspicious. Being able to check that out was easy to follow. Exceptions are easy to create and the interface is easy to follow with a nice appearance.

    ESET Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) is a cybersecurity solution designed to protect businesses of all sizes against a wide array of cyber threats. Its advanced technologies and user-friendly interface provide robust security for endpoint devices, such as desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, without compromising performance. ESET's approach combines multiple layers of protection, including traditional signature-based detection with advanced heuristic analysis, behavioral monitoring, and machine learning, to effectively counter both known and emerging threats.

    ESET's Endpoint Protection Platform is based on a multi-layered defense strategy, which utilizes various technologies like cloud-based scanning, network attack protection, and exploit blockers. This strategy ensures solid protection against malware, ransomware, phishing attacks, and advanced persistent threats (APTs), offering businesses peace of mind regarding their digital security. ESET's platform protects computers, mobile devices, file servers and virtual environments. It’s available as a standalone product and as a part of a wider enterprise cybersecurity bundle, ESET PROTECT Enterprise, which also includes file server security, disk encryption, a cloud sandbox and EDR.

      ESET PROTECT Advanced

      The ESET PROTECT Advanced provides best-in-class endpoint protection against ransomware & zero-day threats, backed by powerful data security.

      • Leverages a multilayered approach that utilizes multiple technologies working together to balance performance, detection and false positives, and with automated malware removal and mediation.
      • Provides advanced protection for your company’s data passing through all general servers, network file storage including OneDrive, and multi-purpose servers to ensure business continuity.
      • A powerful encryption managed natively by ESET remote management console. It increases your organization's data security that meets compliance regulations.
      • Provides proactive cloud-based threat defense against targeted attacks and new, never-before-seen threat types, especially ransomware.

      Performance and Compatibility

      ESET is widely acclaimed for its light system footprint, ensuring that endpoint protection does not come at the expense of performance. This efficiency is crucial for maintaining operational productivity without sacrificing security. Moreover, ESET's solutions are compatible with a wide range of operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.

      Centralized Management

      ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is managed via ESET Security Management Center, a centralized management console that provides real-time visibility into on-premise and off-premise endpoints. This simplifies the administration of security policies, streamlines the detection and response processes, and provides detailed reporting capabilities, making it easier for IT professionals to maintain a secure and compliant IT environment.

      Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for organizations. It offers real-time protection against various types of cyber threats, including malware, viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks.

      With its powerful machine-learning capabilities, it can detect and block sophisticated attacks before they can cause any harm. The solution also includes endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities, allowing organizations to quickly investigate and respond to security incidents. It provides detailed insights into the attack timeline, enabling security teams to understand the scope and impact of an incident.

      Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also offers proactive threat hunting, allowing organizations to proactively search for and identify potential threats within their network. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft security solutions, such as Microsoft Defender XDR, to provide a unified and holistic security approach. With its centralized management console, organizations can easily deploy, configure, and monitor the security solution across their entire network.

      Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a robust and scalable security solution that helps organizations protect their endpoints and data from evolving cyber threats.

      Sample Customers
      Financial, Healthcare, Legal, Technology, Enterprise, Manufacturing ... 
      ERSTE Group Bank, Miller Solutions, Wesleyan University, The Hospital Center of Luxembourg, Deer Valley USD, SPAR, Industrial Federal Credit Union, Honda, City Hall of Palmela, Hays CISD, Lester B Pearson School Board
      Petrofrac, Metro CSG, Christus Health
      Top Industries
      REVIEWERS
      Financial Services Firm21%
      Comms Service Provider11%
      Manufacturing Company11%
      Computer Software Company5%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Computer Software Company16%
      Government8%
      Manufacturing Company8%
      Financial Services Firm8%
      REVIEWERS
      Manufacturing Company13%
      Computer Software Company9%
      Non Tech Company9%
      Financial Services Firm8%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Computer Software Company18%
      Comms Service Provider10%
      Construction Company6%
      Educational Organization6%
      REVIEWERS
      Financial Services Firm19%
      Computer Software Company16%
      Energy/Utilities Company7%
      Comms Service Provider7%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Educational Organization22%
      Computer Software Company13%
      Government8%
      Financial Services Firm7%
      Company Size
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business50%
      Midsize Enterprise16%
      Large Enterprise34%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business31%
      Midsize Enterprise19%
      Large Enterprise50%
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business65%
      Midsize Enterprise15%
      Large Enterprise20%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business41%
      Midsize Enterprise20%
      Large Enterprise39%
      REVIEWERS
      Small Business40%
      Midsize Enterprise17%
      Large Enterprise43%
      VISITORS READING REVIEWS
      Small Business22%
      Midsize Enterprise32%
      Large Enterprise45%
      Buyer's Guide
      ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
      March 2024
      Find out what your peers are saying about ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
      768,740 professionals have used our research since 2012.

      ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is ranked 9th in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 96 reviews while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is ranked 1st in Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) with 182 reviews. ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is rated 8.2, while Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of ESET Endpoint Protection Platform writes "Easy to set up with good security and rapidly improving capabilities". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint writes "Eliminates the need to look at multiple dashboards by automatically providing one XDR dashboard to show the security score of each subscription". ESET Endpoint Protection Platform is most compared with Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity Complete, Check Point Harmony Endpoint and Fortinet FortiClient, whereas Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is most compared with Symantec Endpoint Security, Intercept X Endpoint, CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne Singularity Complete and Fortinet FortiClient. See our ESET Endpoint Protection Platform vs. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint report.

      See our list of best Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) vendors, best Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) vendors, and best Anti-Malware Tools vendors.

      We monitor all Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.